U*S*A!

See:  normal.

Busy, busy week! Will it ever slow down? :) Hopefully everyone had a fun (and safe) Labor Day weekend...got to lurve a 4-day weekend! (For the military, it's a four day. Yay!) We were so lucky to score a free trip too. Josh's unit hosted a marriage retreat up in Dallas at The Great Wolf Lodge. We enjoyed a 5-star resort, wonderful meals, and playtime in the hotel's pool and ginormous indoor water park (you read that right, indoor water park). All we had to do was attend a couple of 2 hour seminars.  Fan-tab-ulous! At first Hannah was devasted that she had to miss one day of school. Her exact words were, "I don't want to go on vacation!" That is not normal for a child. However, when we walked into the lobby and she saw the huge water slides, that mentality went right out the window. Okay, now THAT is normal.

Rollin down the river.

We all had a great time. Hannah was all over the water park, jumping through the kiddie pool, splashing through the wave pool, and lolling on a tube down the lazy river.   Airy is such a water baby; she also had a great time. She spent most of her time in the heated pool/hot tub. My kind of fun! Airy even let me dunk her under the water a few times. She'd also kick her legs and try to launch herself between me and her daddy. Brave baby! Thank you Army for a wonderful trip! Seriously, google the Great Wolf Lodge. It is a national chain and is AWESOME. If any of you ever have the chance to go there, jump at it. There is one in Ohio...

Stuffing her face!

Hannah was living for Tuesday so she could finally get back to school. It was like we were away for the longest of times. How is she going to cope with Christmas vacation or *gasp* summer break?! I had to pick Hannah up from her classroom after school on Tuesday and all of the teachers told me how much they missed her (especially in music where she apparently sings the loudest...I guess she has the most music in her heart). This week was kind of a crazy week at school. Hermine graced us with his presence and we got 12 inches of rain. I was just waiting for Noah to come knocking at my door to offer me a place on the ark. School had to start late and they weren't allowed outside. Hannah was stir-crazy. But the weather took a beautiful turn and the girls enjoyed two playdates by week's end: one at the splash pad with Hannah's "BFF" Alaina and a BBQ on Saturday with our neighbor across the street.

Happy girls on vacay!

Here are some highlights of the week:

• Hannah's class learned about the body this week. She was most fascinated by the mouth which led to such astute observations like "we use our swallow muscles to swallow" and "our front teeth are for biting and our back teeth are for chewing but we have to use all of our teeth for chewing" and "our tongue has all of these little things on them for tasting".
• Mrs. Porterfield seated Hannah right across from Alaina in class. My first thought was, "Uh-oh." When I was in seventh grade, my BFF and I had the chance to sit across from each other. By day's end, she had to move her desk against the wall facing away from me. :) Hannah told me, though, that she and Alaina only talk when it's okay. Other times they put bubbles in her mouth.
• Airy inadvertently learned how to do a handstand this week. We were in the bathroom while I was fixing Hannah's hair when I heard Hannah gasp. When I looked over, Airy was sliding head-first in slow motion into the bathtub. She put out her hands and caught herself. She just stayed there in a handstand like it was the most natural thing in the world. Again, brave baby!
• Airy said Yaya this week. That made my mom's day! She said, "Hi Yaya" over the phone. Then she pointed at a picture of my mom and said, "Yaya!" Airy is not the natural communicator Hannah is so this is verrrry exciting for us.
• On Friday, Hannah's school had a Freedom Walk in honor of 9/11. Airy and I joined her for the walk. My heart swelled with pride when I heard Hannah cheer, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" It practically burst when she turned to a soldier on the side of the road and said, "Thank you for your service." Even though 9/11 will forever go down in history as a day of great tragedy for Americans, it is promising to see how we as Americans have banded together to help each other and honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice on that day. We always hear about how uncontent Americans are, if only people could see these kids so proud to be Americans, so promising for our future...maybe if this were the face of America, the world might see us differently. Hannah and Airy know their Daddy and Papa are heroes; but these little girls, dressed up in their red, white, and blue, are heroes too.